"What is the Purpose of God?"

I was having an interesting conversation with an
atheist over at Wasteland Of Wonders [an
Atheist/Agnostic Website and Message board] when the
topic of ultimate purpose came up!

Now most believers in God, myself included, seem to
say that if the universe just is, then it becomes a
big pointless absurdity, almost like a sick joke!

However if God exists then the universe and everything
in it has a purpose, but the fellow over at Wastelands
of Wonder with whom I was chatting said the following :

"Okay then, what is the ultimate purpose of God's
existence? Don't you just have the same problem with
theism, but pushed back a level? If God "just is," what
purpose then is there for your existence?"

I have to say this question reminds me very much of
the infinite regression problem of "If God exists then
who made God?!"

The best I could think of was that God contains an
explanation for himself and that was it! This
question truly had me bedazzled and I was scratching
my head looking for a decent, non-cop-out explanation!
[Like God explains himself]

So may I ask, if you were asked this question by
someone what would you say?

Thank you for the interesting question! Let me try to answer it this
way:

First, there would seem to be an important difference between the two
questions, "Why does the universe exist?", and "Why does God exist?"
Today, most scientists and philosophers believe that the universe had a
beginning; it is not eternal. However, if God exists at all, He exists
necessarily and is therefore eternal. Thus, even though each question is
asking WHY something exists, they are each asking this about very
different kinds of things.

Second, it's important for us to remember that purposes can only exist
within a mind. The dictionary on my desk defines "purpose" as follows:
1. something one has in mind to get or do; plan; aim; intention. 2.
object or end for which a thing is made, done, used, etc. Clearly,
nothing which lacks a mind can have purposes of this sort. Whatever
purpose there is for the existence of impersonal things must come from
intelligent, purposeful beings. As a general rule, such beings would
also be personal. Here I am thinking primarily of man, but also of God
and the angels if they exist. Of course, some higher animals may have
what might be described as very limited sorts of purposes for some of the
things which they do. But generally speaking, purposes are the products
of intelligent, personal beings.

Thus, if the universe is simply a "brute fact," and was not brought into
existence by a purposeful, intelligent being, there can be no ultimate
purpose for its existence. If nothing exists outside the universe then
clearly, going back to the previously given definition of purpose, there
can be no object or end for which the universe came into existence. The
universe can only have some ultimate purpose if it was created by an
intelligent being who, in fact, had some purpose in making it.

However, when we come to the question which you were asked, "What is the
ultimate purpose of God's existence?", we need to pause and consider
exactly what we are being asked. I think you are correct in seeing this
question as a variant of that other, often-asked question, "Who made
God?" While such questions can be asked, I honestly doubt whether they
are truly meaningful.

In the case of the question, "Who made God?", the questioner seems to be
assuming that whatever exists requires a cause of its existence. But
this is not true. Actually, it is only what BEGINS to exist that
requires a cause. The universe began to exist; therefore, the universe
requires a cause of its existence. But God never began to exist; He is
eternal. It is therefore meaningless to ask "Who made God?", for what is
really being asked is something like "Who made the Unmade Maker?", or
"Who created the Uncreated Creator?" Clearly such questions are
meaningless.

I believe that the question, "What is the ultimate purpose of God's
existence?" or "Why does God exist?", is probably a similar sort of
question. If the Christian God exists, then He is eternal. It is
therefore unnecessary to posit a cause of His existence. Furthermore, if
the Christian God exists, then He is the Creator of everything (other
than Himself, of course!).

But now go back to our definition of "purpose" mentioned earlier and
remember that, since God is the eternal, Uncreated Creator of all that
exists, there was clearly no one other than God who might have had a
purpose for bringing Him into existence. Additionally, it would also be
meaningless to ask what purpose God had for bringing Himself into
existence. The notion of a self-caused being is absurd. In order for a
being to cause its own existence, it would first have to exist - which is
obviously absurd. But if the purpose of God's existence cannot be
explained by reference to an intelligent, purposeful being other than
God, and if it can also not be explained by referring to a self-creative
act of God Himself, I conclude that the question is probably meaningless.

Thus, while one can meaningfully ask about God's purpose(s) in creating
the universe (and thus about the reason WHY the universe exists), one
cannot meaningfully ask this question about God Himself. Probably, the
question is simply meaningless. But if not, we could not possibly know
"the ultimate purpose of God's existence" unless He tells us--and so far
as I'm aware, He hasn't done so.